PIGEONS 247 



as occasionally a breeder makes a specialty of producing birds 

 of some particular color. Many pigeon fanciers breed Homers 

 solely for exhibition. The Exhibition Homer has many dis- 

 tinct color varieties Blue, Silver, Mealy, Blue Checker, Black 

 Checker, Black, Red Checker, White, Yellow. 



Tumbler and Tippler Pigeons. The flying powers of pigeons 

 have been developed for other purposes as well as for travel- 

 ing long distances. In rising or descending in flight a pigeon 

 sometimes turns a somersault in the air. This trait has been 

 developed in certain races so that many birds will perform the 

 feat very often. These races are called Tumblers. They are 



FIG. 195. Squab-breeding Homers. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, 

 Boston, Massachusetts) 



found all over Europe and Asia and in a few localities in 

 America. The common Tumblers perform in the air, usually 

 at some distance from the ground, the tumbling of individual 

 birds being an occasional feature of the evolutions of a flock 

 circling about in the vicinity of its home. From this common 

 Tumbler more highly specialized types have been developed. 

 The breeding of these types has become something of an art, 

 and in some cases the sport of flying them has become a well- 

 organized recreation. 



By breeding together specimens which performed well when 

 flying, Tumblers were finally produced in which the tumbling 

 propensity was so exaggerated that they could not fly but, after 



